INTRODUCTION
The great church historian, Phillp Schaff, whose library is here in Lancaster said:
"As to the numerical strength of Christianity at the close of the first century, we have no information whatever. Statistical reports were unknown in those days. The estimate of half a million among the one hundred millions or more inhabitants of the Roman empire is probably exaggerated. The pentecostal conversion of three thousand in one day at Jerusalem, and the "immense multitude" of martyrs under Nero, favor a high estimate. The churches in Antioch also, Ephesus, and Corinth were strong enough to bear the strain of controversy and division into parties. But the majority of congregations were no doubt small, often a mere handful of poor people. In the country districts paganism (as the name indicates) lingered longest, even beyond the age of Constantine. . . .And yet these poor, illiterate churches were the recipients of the noblest gifts, and alive to the deepest problems and highest thoughts which can challenge the attention of an immortal mind. Christianity built from the foundation upward. From the lower ranks come the rising men of the future, who constantly reinforce the higher ranks and prevent their decay. At the time of the conversion of Constantine, in the beginning of the fourth century, the number of Christians may have reached ten or twelve millions, that is about one-tenth of the total population of the Roman empire. Some estimate it higher."
As we continue through Acts, it is an astounding fact to consider the church’s humble expansion.
Remember the OUTLINE OF ACTS 2
THE HOLY SPIRIT’S COMING
THE HOLY SPIRIT’S CALL
THE HOLY SPIRIT’S COMMUNITY: 2:42-47
We will unpack this last passage in chapter two in two basic sections.
What the Community Continued to Do (2:42-45)
Where the Community Continued to Do It (2:46-47)
They though will not receive equal attention. We will focus more on this first section.
In leading to this first community produced by Jesus through the Spirit, we have seen that Pentecost is likened to the Shekinah glory: As the glory of the Holy Spirit filled the earthly tabernacle, and then the Jerusalem temple, the church born at Pentecost, as the very body and temple of Jesus Christ is also indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and this glory is made evident in the marks of the church given to us by Luke.
The instrumentality to call together the first congregation was pentecostal preaching. As we saw last week, many responded to Peter’s pentecostal preaching.
Notice vs 40-41:
40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation."
41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
So Peter continued to exhort them.. From this we learn much about apostolic preaching, or the apostolic kerygma as it is called. Not only does such preaching, 1. The announcement that the age of fulfilment has arrived; 2. An account of the ministry, death, and triumph of Jesus; 3. Citation of OT scriptures whose fulfilment in these events proves Jesus to be the one to whom they pointed forward; 4. A call to repentance. -- But we can add that it also takes into account the generational context. See verse 40, "Be saved from this perverse generation."
Calvin on Preaching says - "Be saved from this perverse generation"
’It is the duty of a good pastor to defend his sheep from the onset of wolves. So today, so that we may keep the people in the pure doctrine of the Gospel, we must often show and testify how much Papistry differs from the Christianity and what a hurtful plague it is to be entangled with the unfaithful enemies of Christ."
In the literary Structure of Acts, there seven summary statements on the progress of the gospel. This is the first (6:7; 9:31; 12:24; 16:5; 19:20 28:31) and several updates
42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.
44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common,
45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.
46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,
47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
Chrysostom says, "Here are two virtues, perseverance and concord."
1) WHAT THE COMMUNITY CONTINUED TO DO ...
42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
The term continued is proskartereo which means persist - to continue to do something with intense effort, with the possible implication of despite difficulty - ’to devote oneself to, to keep on, to persist in.- ’devote yourselves to prayer’ Ro 12.12. ’for this reason, be alert and always keep on praying for all God’s people’ Eph 6.18.
This body of believers persisted in these marks of God’s people. As Calvin puts it, "Luke is recording those things which constitute the form of the church visible to the public eye. Indeed, he defines the four marks by which the true and genuine appearance of the Church may be distinguished."
Let us consider them in detail. The devoted themselves or continued -
In (the) Doctrine - didache ton apostolon
They devoted themselves both to Spirit-inspired utterance, given in the power of the Holy Spirit--which we know as preaching--as well as to teaching, this would, no doubt, include the Apostles passing along the memorized words and works of Jesus Christ which he had taught them, and in which they had been privileged to participate as eyewitnesses. We can only imagine how exciting it must have been for the two disciples on the road to Emmaus recount for the church, what that was like to have Jesus personally give them a lesson in redemptive history. We can only wonder about what it must have been like for the disciples to describe eating with our Lord, fishing with him, traveling with him, and to see him perform miracles.
Where do we find this teaching today? Christ’s church possess this same teaching of the apostles, found in Holy Scripture, the depository of such teaching. Thus the first thing we look for when we look for a church, is whether or not the teaching of the apostles is central.
The devoted themselves - In (the) Fellowship
Fellowship is the bond and the unity which we as diverse individuals possess because of our mutual adoration of Jesus Christ, which is part of the fruit that the Holy Spirit brings to his church, which is the body of Jesus Christ and his glorious temple.
The nature of this state of koinonia is seen throughout this passage. We are told that among those in fellowship with one another, personal possessions were sold to help those in need (v. 44, 45), and that Christians met together both in the temple where they attended the temple services, and in individual homes, where they gathered for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. We are told that together they had glad and sincere hearts and enjoyed the favor of the people.
True fellowship is instead the mutual admiration of Jesus Christ, in which all of our own individual personalities, races, stations in life, vocations, education, interests, sins, hang-ups and character flaws become secondary to our mutual admiration of the only One who is worthy of our love affection and service. Fellowship is the uniting of different individuals of all kinds around t
the Lord Jesus Christ, through Word and Sacrament, with one accord.
Heb 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. 16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
In (the) Breaking of Bread
The application of this is simple; Christ’s church should have regular and frequent celebrations of the supper. The celebration of the Supper should be a central focus of Christian worship and Christian piety. Since we have spent ample time on this in weeks past, I will not dwell on this now.
In (the) Prayers
"I would rather teach one man to pray than 10 men to preach." (Charles Spurgeon)
Luke says that they devoted themselves to "the prayers" clearly suggesting formal prayers, probably centering in the Psalms and certainly in the Lord’s Prayer, since this was the prayer that our Lord taught us, as his people, to pray.
This means that the nature of their prayer actions was probably more "liturgical" than "just" prayers. "We just thank you, we just praise you, we just love you..." They probably resembled the Psalms more than the evangelical rosarie: "derheavanly father, lead, guide and direct us, ..."
THE ESSENCE OF PRAYER is stated well in WLC 178 What is prayer? A. Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God,(1) in the name of Christ,(2) by the help of his Spirit;(3) with confession of our sins,(4) and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies.(5) (1)Ps. 62:8 (2)John 16:23 (3)Rom. 8:26 (4)Ps. 32:5,6; Dan. 9:4 (5)Phil. 4:6
"The man who mobilizes the Christian church to pray will make the greatest contribution to world evangelization in history." (Andrew Murray)
Acts 2:43 Then fear (phobos) came (eginito) upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.
The word came (egineto) is imperfect, meaning that fear or awe kept on coming on the people. The entire Jerusalem phase of the ministry took place over perhaps 3-5 years, finally coming to a head with the confrontation of the Sanhedrin and Stephen. This brought about what Jesus prophesied, the persecution of the "prophets, scribes and wise men" He had sent them (Mt 23).
Notice that Luke stresses here that the "wonders and signs were done through the apostles." This is not to say that only the apostles could or ever did do what we would call miracles. Yet, they properly belong to the apostles. Notice these verses which indicate this:
Remember that these things were part of the prophetic fulfillment:
Acts 2:19 I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
The attested to the apostles: 2 Corinthians 12:12 Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.
Acts 5:12 And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch.
Acts 14:3 Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
Hebrews 2:3-4 Hebrews 2:3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?
So then signs and wonders and miracles were a distinct working of the apostles which they (by the laying on of hands transferred to others). Yet, others did not have such capacity to transfer it.
B. B. Warfield of old Princeton Theological Seminary, had a bed-stricken wife during the early 1900s when the Azusa Street Revival was spilling all over America. I am certain the Warfield would have wanted a faith-healer to heal his wife. But these "miracle workers" were fraudulent.
Warfield wrote a book which is still a standard on the topic, Counterfeit Miracles. He gives true wisdom in explaining the essential purpose of miracles when he said,
"There is, of course, a deeper principle recognizable here, of which the actual attachment of the charismata of the Apostolic Church to the mission of the Apostles is but an illustration. This deeper principle may be reached by us through the perception, more broadly, of the inseparable connection of miracles with revelation, as its mark and credential; or, more narrowly, of the summing up of all revelation, finally, in Jesus Christ. Miracles do not appear on the page of Scripture vagrantly, here, there, and elsewhere indifferently, without assignable reason. They belong to revelation periods, and appear only when God is speaking to His people through accredited messengers, declaring His gracious purposes. Their abundant display in the Apostolic Church is the mark of the richness of the Apostolic age in revelation; and when this revelation period closed, the period of miracle working had passed by also, as a mere matter of course. It might, indeed, be a priori conceivable that God should deal with men atomistically, and reveal Himself and His will to each individual, throughout the whole course of history, in the penetralium of his own consciousness. This is the mystic’s dream. It has not, however, been God’s way. He has chosen rather to deal with the race in its entirety, and to give to this race His complete revelation of Himself in an organic whole. And when this historic process of organic revelation had reached its completeness, and when the whole knowledge of God designed for the saving health of the world had been incorporated into the living body of the world’s thought-there remained, of course, no further revelation to be made, and there has been accordingly no further revelation made. God the Holy Spirit has made it His subsequent work, not to introduce new and unneeded revelations into the world, but to diffuse this one complete revelation through the world and to bring mankind into the saving knowledge of it."
2) WHERE THE COMMUNITY CONTINUED TO DO IT: TEMPLE, HOUSE TO HOUSE
46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity (singleness) of heart,
47 praising God and having favor with all the people.
In the Temple:
In Acts 3:11 we read that Peter and John in the porch which is called Solomon’s. And in Acts 5:12 And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch.
Note the transitional quality of this passage. It would not be possible for believers to continue to meet in the temple after Stephen’s martyrdom (ch 7). Indeed their meeting place would be utterly destroyed in 70 AD. Therefore, the new wine of the new covenant community we need to fill new wine skins and did in deed expand a burst those old wine skins of Israel.
According to House - house to house
Breaking bread from house to house: The Greek text says, te kat oikon. The RSV has it "in their homes." The application for us is essentially hospitality.
Do you practice hospitality? Are you intentionally developing a routine of hospitality. Romans 12:13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality...1 Peter 4:9 says, Be hospitable to one another without complaint. Hebrews 13:2: Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. The word is filoxenia. Literally it is "stranger-love" (from phileo and xenos - like xenophobia). Xenia, in fact, was a room for lodging. 3 John 1:5-6 says, Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well...
Remember Jesus words in Mat 25:35 ’For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in.
Alexander Strauch writes, "I realize that some people can easily invite guests over on the spur of the moment, but most people need to plan ahead and invite people to their table. Set a regular time each week or month to invite people to your home. Unless you plan this into your schedule, you may never get past the good-intention level to the implementation level. You’ll say, "This is important. The Bible instructs us to do this, and it will help our church; it will make our congregation a closer, more loving place." But unless you plan ahead, you’ll be busy next week, and the next week, and the week after that. you may rarely get around to opening your home to people in your church or your nonChristian friends and neighbors. As you experience the joy and blessing of opening your home, however, you will want to do it more often."
What was the result of this Spirit powered, Word centered, Bread-breaking life of true fellowship? V 47 They were "praising God and having favor with all the people."
In summary then, in the aftermath of the Pentecostal preaching of Peter, Luke tells his readers that the believers continued together in community. The Holy Spirit’s Pentecostal effusion (pouring out) had produced through the Word of the Gospel, by means a man’s voice, a community of devoted people. The people were devoted to the risen Lord and Savior whom "They" crucified. But their conviction, now made into commitment manifested itself in love and persistence in receiving the Word, in koinonia fellowship, in table fellowship, in material fellowship, sacramental fellowship, and in prayers. In a word the community made by the Spirit, they were devoted to worship. This primary commitment, however, enveloped their daily lives in several ways. They met each others’ needs - material fellowship. This must have been a striking community of perhaps several thousand who shared with those in need. God was pleased to add to their number. One can only imagine that the effect of powerful preaching, teaching, exhorting, miracles, a community of those showing love through sharing all combined to be an unsurpassed means of
persuading people to believe the Good News.
Knowing this, we should be reminded that the gospel changes people from the inside out. Those cut to the heart were able to become a community of people with a heart demonstrated by meeting the tangible needs of others. Those that are Holy Spirit people are to share. When is the last time you sought to meet a need in the name of Christ. We need to be a community which seeks to serve our larger community. We would only be motivated to do this if we are like that first group, Spiritually empowered, devoted to the Word, able to live out of the overflow of true fellowship with God.
